Food and drinking water commonly contain some boron. Boron is used for instance in laundry products. Could boron exposure affect my health? Under what conditions could it be beneficial or harmful to the environment?

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Scientific Facts on Source document:
IPCS (1998)
Boron Summary & Details:
GreenFacts (2004)
1. What is boron?......................................2
Context - Food and drinking water 2. Where is boron found?...........................2
commonly contain some boron. Boron 3. What levels of boron are found?..............2
is used for instance in laundry products. 4. What are the effects of boron on humans and
Could boron exposure affect my health? mammals?............................................3
Under what conditions could it be 5. What are the effects of boron on organisms
beneficial or harmful to the in the environment?...............................3
environment? 6. Conclusions..........................................3
This Digest is a faithful summary of the leading scientific consensus report
produced in 1998 by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS):
"Executive Summary of the Environmental Health Criteria for Boron (EHC 204)"
The full Digest is available at: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/boron/
This PDF Document is the Level 1 of a GreenFacts Digest. GreenFacts Digests are published in several
languages as questions and answers, in a copyrighted user-friendly Three-Level Structure of increasing
detail:
• Each question is answered in Level 1 with a short summary.
• These answers are developed in more detail in Level 2.
• Level 3 consists of the Source document, the internationally recognised scientific consensus
report which is faithfully summarised in Level 2 and further in Level 1.
All GreenFacts Digests are available at: http://www.greenfacts.org/

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1. What is boron?
Boron is a naturally occurring element. In the environment, boron is combined with oxygen
and other elements in compounds called borates. Borates are widely found in nature, and
are present in oceans, sedimentary rocks, coal, shale and some soils. There are several
commercially important borates, including borax, boric acid, sodium perborate, and the
minerals ulexite and colemanite.
Different borates react differently with water.
2. Where is boron found?
2.1 Boron is primarily obtained from boron mines, located in arid regions of Turkey and
the USA, and also in Argentina, Chile, Russia, China, and Peru.
Boron can also be found in different final products made from these boron minerals, including
fibreglass, borosilicate glass, fire retardants, laundry bleach, agricultural fertilizers and
herbicides, and many others.
2.2 Boron enters the environment mainly from the weathering of boron-containing rocks,
from seawater in the form of boric acid vapour and from volcanic and other geothermal
activity such as geothermal steam. Boron is also released, though to a lesser extent, from
human activities. These include the use of borate-containing fertilizers and herbicides, the
burning of plant-based products such as wood, coal, or oil, and the release of waste from
borate mining and processing. Borates also reach the environment due to the use of borates
and perborates in the home and in industry, through leaching from treated wood or paper,
and from sewage and sewage sludge disposal.
2.3 Borates dissolved in the water can adsorb onto, and desorb from, the many different
surfaces which can be found in rivers and streams. This is the only significant reaction that
these boron-containing compounds will undergo.
Borates are also adsorbed onto soil particles. The degree of adsorption depends upon the
type of soil. Plants can accumulate boron, which is necessary for plant growth. Boron can
build up in plants, but does not subsequently accumulate to a greater extent along the food
chain, i.e. in animals which eat the plants, or in predatory animals which eat these animals.
3. What levels of boron are found?
3.1 Boron occurs at different concentrations in soil, water or air. Boron accumulates to
different degrees in aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals, but does not increase in
concentration through the food-chain.
3.2 Humans are exposed to boron from their diet, from drinking water, and from some
consumer products. They may also, to a much smaller extent, ingest boron from the soil,
or breathe in boron from the air. Overall, more than half of the average total exposure to
boron comes from the diet.

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4. What are the effects of boron on humans and mammals?
4.1 Boron acts in the same way in humans as in other mammals. These similarities help
to make it possible to make reliable predictions of effects on humans from effects observed
on laboratory animals such as rats. When swallowed and inhaled, boron is widely distributed
throughout the body, and some is taken up by the bones. It is then rapidly excreted, with
boron incorporated in bone taking a longer time to be eliminated.
4.2 In laboratory animals, boron can affect reproduction and the development of the
fetus. Animal studies on mice and rats show no evidence of boron carcinogenicity.
4.3 Because of the lack of human data and the limited amount of animal data, the EPA has
classified boron as "not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity" in 1994.
The very few studies on humans showed that short-term exposure to boron can cause
irritation of the eye, the upper respiratory tract, and the nasopharynx. This irritation
disappears when the exposure stops. No long-term health effects have been found. No
effects have been found of boron exposure on human fertility. However, further study is
needed to identify groups of people that might be sensitive and to evaluate reproductive
effects more fully.
5. What are the effects of boron on organisms in the environment?
Different organisms in the environment are affected differently when exposed to boron:
• Bacteria are relatively tolerant towards boron, as are freshwater green algae
and blue-green algae.
• Protozoa are more sensitive to boron than bacteria.
• Invertebrates, such as worms and mussels, are less sensitive to boron than
bacteria and protozoa.
• Adult fish are relatively tolerant towards boron, with rainbow trout and zebra
fish being the most sensitive. However, boron may be more toxic during the
early life stages of some fish, especially rainbow trout.
• Boron is an essential nutrient for plants, but different plant species require
different boron levels for optimum growth. In some plants, there is only a narrow
margin between too little or too much boron.
6. Conclusions
Boron is a naturally occurring element that is found in oceans, sedimentary rocks, coal,
shale, and some soils. Boron is released into the environment from the oceans, volcanic
and other geothermal activities such as geothermal steam, and natural weathering of
boron-containing rocks. Boron is also released, to a lesser extent, by human activities.
Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants, with differences between plant species in the
levels required for optimum growth. There is a narrow margin between boron deficiency
and toxicity in some plants.
The risk of adverse effects of high boron concentrations on aquatic ecosystems is small
because boron levels are generally low, and below the no-observed-effect concentration.
For humans, boron exposure occurs primarily through the diet but also through
drinking-water. Animal experiments have shown harmful effects on reproduction and

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development, but only at boron levels that are approximately 100 to 1000 times greater
than normal exposure levels. Though there is insufficient toxicity data for humans, a Tolerable
Intake (TI) of boron has been established based on animal data.